A few hours before this Wednesday’s fourth session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), in Washington, which will discuss the bloody sociopolitical crisis in Nicaragua, at least thirteen countries of the hemisphere are promoting a resolution of condemnation against the ruthless repression carried out by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, president and vice-presidents, respectively.
According to the former ambassador of Nicaragua to the OAS, José Luis Velásquez, for this session there are 21 votes ready to a resolution condemning the Ortega-Murillo government, for violation of human rights, for the use of police and paramilitaries against of the citizens who protest peacefully, demanding democracy and the exit of power from the presidential couple.
However, the votes in agreement with the diplomat depend on the quorum in the participation of the member countries, “but the condemnation of human rights violations against Ortega is irreversible.”
According to the former diplomat, of the 34 member countries, 21 would have already confirmed their approval of the resolution against the Ortega-Murillo administration.
On June 24, 1979, the OAS passed a resolution condemning the regime of Anastasio Somoza. The resolution demanded its definitive and immediate replacement, as well as a peace-making plan with a government representative of the opposition.
Somoza, pressured by the international community and popular anger, accepted the resolution and left power.
But then, Nicaragua was in an armed struggle between the Sandinista Front led by Daniel Ortega and the Somoza government.
This time, according to Velásquez, the Ortega regime has put all its security apparatus, using weapons of war and lethal force against an unarmed people that demand his exit by peaceful means.
“Guaranteeing the collective security of the human rights of Nicaraguans will weigh in this session, because there are few Caribbean countries that would not support the condemnation, and the few that will do so depend on Venezuela’s oil, political and commercial partner of Ortega,” Velasquez said.
Ortega’s last-minute maneuver
At the last hour on Tuesday, July 17, Ortega’s ambassador to the OAS, Luis Alvarado, issued a counterproposal of a resolution favorable to Ortega.
The draft resolution is entitled “Restitution of peace in Nicaragua” and was sent to Rita Hernández Bolaños, permanent representative of Costa Rica, to be distributed among the missions present in the organization.
Contrary to the proposed resolution of condemnation of Nicaragua, Ortega’s document calls on member countries to condemn “that the opposition coup groups use the National Dialogue promoted by the Government of Nicaragua, to try to legitimize their criminal actions against the civilian population and police, colluded with international organized crime groups and terrorists, to destabilize the State of Nicaragua. ”
In addition, Ortega calls to “recognize” the initiatives of his government “in calling the National Dialogue” to find a peaceful solution to the acts of violence generated from April 18.
The document also requests the support of the countries to resume the dialogue, thanks to the Government for allowing the entry of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the OAS Electoral Accompaniment Mission.
Ortega also requests that the OAS to condemn terrorist actions against Nicaragua and to respect “the self-determination of the State of Nicaragua to restore peace and security without interference of any kind.”
According to Velásquez, Daniel Ortega has the battle lost before the bosom of the OAS.
“In that call, Daniel Ortega Saavedra’s resignation can be demanded and multilateral and bilateral sanctions can be decreed, and this can also lead Nicaragua’s problem with the Security Council of the United Nations,” Velásquez said.
The ex-diplomat recalled that in the case of Somoza, in the XVII Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OAS, in 1979, he demanded the resignation of Somoza “for legitimate rebellion of the people of Nicaragua against him.”
Velásquez recalled that at that time the United States requested the sending of a combined military force against Somoza, but it was rejected by the OAS. “But it allowed the sanctions that isolated Somoza as the arrest of the Israeli ship that brought him weapons and ammunition,” said the former Ambassador to the OAS.
The draft resolution that aims to condemn Ortega’s government will be discussed today, Wednesday, July 19, within the OAS and is sponsored by Argentina, Canada, Chile, the United States and Peru.
Defeated in the international arena
For the former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, the OAS processes are slow, but it is clear that Ortega “is defeated in the international arena.”
“We have seen an encouraging turn in the General Secretariat of the OAS from the complicity with Ortega during the (electoral) missions of Penco and a month ago when Almagro said that there were only two dictatorships in Latin America (Venezuela and Cuba) until now, when we noticed a more belligerent position of the General Secretariat and of Almagro, who now condemns the violence in Nicaragua and attributes it mainly to the Government, “affirmed Aguirre Sacasa.
Brazenness of Ortega
“In an example of historical brazenness, the government of Daniel Ortega intends to use the Inter-American Democratic Charter as a shield, claiming that the Nicaraguan people are provoking a rupture in the democratic order. The problem with this tactic is that the whole world knows that it is their government that is brutally suppressing a peacefully raised people to restore democracy and the rule of law dismantled by Daniel since 2007,” said Francisco Aguirre Sacasa.
Source (in Spanish): La Prensa
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
